Whilst watching this documentary one can't help but observe that in Japan even fruit are treated with more love and appreciation than many human beings.
The melon lady has her own quiet pace of life, her own business and her own rhythm without having to endure office politics. She is one of the fortunate few.
A business and passion that was passed down from her father as well. Compared to the tokyo grind machine she seems blessed. Not that she's not a hard worker! But she seems to get a lot of genuine joy and takes pride in her work.
The strange thing about Japanese work ethic is that the corporate jobs are often filled with unproductive work... like literally spending hours in the office in routines that kill time...
Yes they waste a lot of employees’ time and tends to OVER complicate things that could have been simply executed. They hate to cause trouble for others but it is completely opposite for life in company
Always remember, your job is always replaceable. When you’re gone they won’t care. Always take care ourselves first physically espc mentally before anything else.
I didn't even notice this was a almost 50 min documentary, amazingly well produced and very relevant for any society at the moment, not matter where you live
I work in Japan, and I have noticed most of the time is spent procrastinating and attending meaningless meetings. So it's not entirely true that the Japanese are working hard to Karoshi.
Also, postponing, or long meetings that doesn`t benefit the production only affect the people at the production, NOW the managers or higher tier position, that different, they need those meetings, they need postpone schedule for more meetings, or they don`t have anything else to do.
I feel like this is the norm in Asia? My cousin works in an American fortune 500 company based in China and apparently they don't have agenda for meetings. No one to keep the meeting moving and productive, so tons of time is wasted on useless talks. Also, employees cannot leave work until their manager or director has left even if they have finished their work for the day as it would be disrespectful.
I've lived in Japan for 30 years. Most people work standard 40 hour work weeks. This hardest working bit is piffle. Japan ranks 21st in the world for hours worked per annum. Mexico ranks 1st.
It wasn't free. They made money off of you, me and everyone else that watched the multiple ads during the program. So we all paid with something far more valuable than money... Our time.
NOPE... It happens here in America too! Many people sue their companies, win, then go back to work for them. Only to be fired 6 months to a year later over some other bullshit. Because that person has no effort nor ambition or confidence to go look for a new job AND then the company can't fire a person once they've been sued otherwise it looks like the firing was done out of revenge and that would lead to another lawsuit for wrongful termination. So while the company buys their time, they make it difficult for the person going back to work for them, in the hopes they either screw up so they can justifiably fire the person OR so that person gets fed up and quits. I know this one person who worked for a company and sued them for $3 MILLION dollars (AND WON) and still remained at the company. But she stayed ONLY because the company was about to go IPO and she wanted to exercise her shares and didn't want to lose them, if she quit. Plus the company couldn't backlash at her nor fire her once she sued them because then the company would of had a scandal on their hands, publicly, and that would have jeopardized the companies IPO. And the lawsuit was over racism too! She proved it by secretly recording the VP, when the VP bluntly admits he was discriminating against her due to her race. She is asian. What the company failed to realize was that her husband was an lawyer! LOL
My honest word when dealing with Japanese clients is that they spend alot of time dwelling on nonsensical issues and complicating works. Although their culture of mastery is respected all around the world, that very culture itself is killing their productivity and efficiency.
My experience with them is negative. I worked with them on various occasions on business applications. Whatever assignments given to them, they can't deliver. They don't even have good excuses. IMO, they're rude to laugh like it was funny not to deliver any assignments. If they do, they goof up to make me spend more time to correct their work. The same assignments given to Chinese, Singaporean, Indian, etc. clients, they can deliver with good quality. I kinda think that Japanese workers aren't smart.
If you do all your work in time and leave at 6, your boss will think that you don’t have enough work to do, so you get more work, so you end up staying late. You just can’t win.
I'm sorry you have been through that, that kind of boss doesn't deserve to have a company if he treats his workers like that. I hope more Japanese bosses would realize that.
I've work in Japan many times. There is a concept called 生き甲斐 (Ikigai) or reason for living, devotion to purpose etc. Japanese people work a lot of hours. But that makes them zombies. Just because you work many hours does not mean your productive, in fact it's the opposite. Working 18/7 makes you a zombie, it does not make you "hard working" it means you show up.
One can label everything with words or give a meaning for whatever reason there is, and this doesn't happen only in Japan. It is the whole concept of these brainwashing of the people all over the world so that the owners of companies who are into production of anything which is needed in this life can either be sold or exploited such as natural resources and almost anything thinkable to bring a profit. The only reason a person goes to school is to learn how to work for a system or to be a slave for a business. They never teach you about real life in school or how to enjoy your life as an individual rather be taught to become enslaved in the end. The japanese folk are exploited to the maximum because of their mentality as a people and these business companies only know this mentality too well.
Its relatable here in the US as well: complete your high school education, pick a degree in college at the age of 17/18 and hope that you are still interested in pursuing that line of work once you finish college. There is enormous amount of pressure on the youth to pick their "life" long path early in life and in high school all they talk about is college. When some 50% of Americans hate their jobs we have clearly failed as a society. We also put so much emphasis on being a productive worker and contributing to the company but we forget that there is an individual with their own needs and wants. People in the US may not work as much as the Japanese but its not uncommon to be forced into over time work when a coworker calls out or when there is short staffing. This is often notorious in the retail and food industry when the turnover rate is astronomical (low pay, lack of appreciation, working hours) but yet somehow we still continue with business as usual. The US is also at a precipice where we have to decide what is more important being a productive "drone" in society just to amass more stuff or be happy and content as an individual in a work place that truly understands your value and worth. We can't continue to equate that productivity = happiness.
Good post. Always remember Obama urging patriotic Americans to go out shopping again to "stimulate" the economy. A society based on huge consumer debt, constant consumption isn't able to deal with climate change.
I worked 10 years in an office job in japan, and the reality is that the japanese spend a lot of time at work because of company pressure, but they do not work very hard at all, most of the time they are just screwing around.
Yeah I agree! These people are working smart! Bosses love this type of "smart" workers and they thrive! Unfortunately I knew way too late and I worked so hard to the detriment of my health! Worse is, the boss doesn't care 2hoots!😭
That is why Japan is not effective at all. They just work in a long period of time. I work 12-14hrs each day include Saturday in Tokyo. I go back at my last train. That was sucks.
@@beruangloncat yup I know, its not even physically possible to work hours that long and every day and be effective, where I worked it was not that bad cause it was an american company, but I know the japanese companies were like that
They basically lose their lives (sometimes literally) to their work, so many wish to escape to a different world where they can live awesome lives of adventures and surrounded by hot chicks
he is a winner, if you think he'll stay stuck and won't evolve you are wrong. This is transitional for him. But overworked people are going to hate him and call him a loser.
I'm pretty sure that there are many other not so "Japanese style" jobs that aren't wasting time and don't have poor work life balance. RUclipsr is one for sure, probably many jobs in smaller towns, priests, shop owner, hotel worker and etc. Avoiding office jobs in most cases solve the sad way of sarari man.
@@MJ-uk6lu Sadly those professions rarely make enough for someone to feel happy in the modern era. It may be enough to support yourself and perhaps your business but rarely would you have enough money to spend on luxuries. That and your employment is hinged upon a population that is only all but guaranteed to decrease, likely to a point that you can no longer make a profit by the time you die.
I've seen living in Japan for 12 years, 10 of which in a Japanese company.They don't work hard. They spend a lot of time at work. HUGE difference. So talking about work ethics is quite a joke. They show their dedication to their company by spending time at work, and it doesn't matter if they're doing anything. Pointless meetings are not a myth. I've seen many, including a nearly hour long one to decide the color of the stitching on a shirt. That said, they strive to perfection in their work not only for the satisfaction of the customer, but also to avoid the shame of a job badly done. "Falling in line" is the rule. You do what you're told. Kids are told from the youngest age to shut up, not stick out and follow . It's a wonderful country to live in , but it's also a country that will hit a wall and break eventually.People are are mostly miserable at work and the happiest people are usually those who work their own business or in very small structure.
I am one of those fortunate commuters in Tokyo who have watched master handpan musician, Kashiwa Hang, “work.” It was so relaxing to listen to and watch him play his handpans. I caught two of his performances in Akihabara. It was mesmerizing! I even uploaded that performance of his in my youtube channel too. I hope to see more of him.
This shows how many people are overworked and stressed in Japan. I hope the working environment is reorganized in a matter where both work and life are fairly balanced. I hope the best for all the hard working people in Japan.
You say, 'the culture is strong with this woman'. I say, 'there is something seriously wrong with this woman'. All cultures are fatally flawed, because human nature is evil from birth. (Jeremiah 17:9) 'The heart is deceitful beyond all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it?' Only the God of Israel can understand it. Yes, even Jewish culture was fatally flawed, because the people would not listen to God very often.
@@Luigi_Mario_1997 I said nothing unreasonable, and I wonder no such thing. You are wrong on TWO counts. 1. Christianity should NOT be defined as a 'religion.' RELIGION CANNOT SAVE ANYONE; Jesus saves. He did not represent Himself as a 'religious leader', and I do not consider myself a 'religious person'. The Bible says: (James 1:26) 'If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.' 2. THE CHURCH IS ALWAYS GROWING. The Church is the Body of Christ, the sum total of all believers. Since Christ gives eternal life, no one ceases to be a member of the Church upon physical death. Church attendance may be low in the Western world today, but it is increasing in many parts of the globe. Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa are huge 'success' stories, as regards contemporary evangelism. Which country has the biggest churches in the world? South Korea. Which sends out more missionaries than any other in proportion to its population? South Korea. Get with the times, man.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 Because proselytizing bastards like you unreasonably accuse the entirety of human nature as sinful. This is 2022 AD, not 1203 AD-human society is now far more educated than we were in the Dark Ages. If you have never taken a public relations class, let me break it down do you in simple terms: Honey attracts more bees than vinegar.
@@gordonbgraham Yeah but I heard stories of you guys over working yourselves and clocking in long hours of work. Barely any time to socialize or relax. But those are just some perspectives i heard for living in the city. If you live in the province, then good for you
@@gordonbgraham depends on how the data is depicted. Teachers are considered 40 hours in japan but don’t clock in or out and typically work 70. What category does that fall under?
@@ryanoheron5354 I've been a high school teacher in Japan for 22 years. We don't work 70 hours a week. That falls under the category of "myth". High school in Japan is 6 days a week. Up until 2 years ago, prior to changes in the overtime law that limits the amount of overtime a company (or school) can require of an employee, I would concede that 60 hour work weeks were not uncommon among teachers. However, since the labour law changes have been implemented we teachers are now forced to take 2 days off a week despite there still being 6 school days a week for students. Prior to last year, we had to log in in a daily attendance book with the time written for arrival and departure accompanied by our hanko (personalised stamp). Since last year, once the new law had been implemented, we've had to log in daily on the computer into a data base that confirms our hours. The data is subject to audit by the ministry of labour. No school wants their reputation tarnished by not following the law. It's the Japanese way. My situation is by no means anecdotal. It reflects the current standard procedure throughout Japan.
@@gordonbgraham I’m working here now in middle schools, elementary and highschool. Seems like it matters where you are from your experience. Teachers don’t log their hours into computers they just stamp their bame with no time. Most arrive at 7:30, and do a club so are here until 6. I exaggerated but for my schools it’s definitely over 40 and on average more than 50. Some people in the board of education definitely do 60-70 and have been most weeks since I arrived and most of it is unproductive meetings.
I have experience working in Japan. People work punishing hours because the company is understaffed AND have too much inefficient bureaucratic b*shit. Plus, most managers are not qualified to be managers, hence subordinate suffers working under them. The gov kept saying workplace reform but new policies are still not able to curb such problems drastically (mostly superficial). Sleep deficiency is the biggest stressor, people should sleep more. EU made a good policy to introduce the 11-hour interval, which I think is very reasonable.
70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
It's a very polarized situation. Not everyone works long hours due to a few reasons, such as the wide use of temporary staff and most people tend not to apply OT. Excluding certain industries like finance (usually compensated well), most work decent hours (40-60h/week). On the other end of the spectrum, 80h/week is considered 'normal'. Some small companies even have 6 workdays. One good example is public school teachers in Japan. www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/03/13/commentary/japan-commentary/japans-overworked-underpaid-teachers/
@@nixt.7920 I can't read the affixed article as I'd need a subscription. That said, I noticed that the article is dated 2018. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour has since enacted a law to reduce overtime for teachers and allow flex work schedules. I've worked at a high school for 20 years. Since the new legislation we must take a compulsory 2 days off a week and we must log in and log out on a database that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour has access to. We log in @ 8:30 am and out at 5pm. Anything beyond 5pm is overtime. The public coffers must pay for overtime which the principal must account for. In private school's the affiliated university's administration puts strict restrictions on overtime spending. I work in a private high school. We used to have 3 hour meetings once a week. We now have 1 hour meetings twice a month. Teachers who run sports clubs still put in a lot of overtime...but they are paid for it. I've affixed the legislative information that has been updated and adhered to by schools in Japan.www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section4/page5.html
I started to cry the minute you started to describe what was happening in the films and I saw you tear up. I’m so empathetic that it doesn’t take much to make me cry.
I’m not in Japan, but as a nurse during these pandemic, being a nurse in the one of epicenters in the USA reflects how terrible the hospitals are becoming and disregarding our well being as a person. This documentary hits home. I’m reflecting weather I should really change my career paths... Very well done! Thank you!!
Youre better offf where you are if youre a nurse since I work for an Oil Company and I tell you, its disorganized, most of your coworkers are dicks thinking they are the smartest motherfuckers in the planet. But yet when things need to get done they hide in their offices and dont want to be blamed if things go wrong, yet they would steal their subordinates hard work if things work out. We also get hit hard with long hours of work because if you dont work overtime, you wont be able to keep up. My aunt who was a veteran Nurse told me this. If you change your line of work or company. Its just a different face of evil, you are going to be dealing with. But just make sure you like what you are doing.
Have you thought about beauty injection? My cousin who is a RN switch to beauty injection, rent a space at a doctor office for 2k, she just open early this year and made avarage 5-6k/ a day here in Texas. Im not sure what lisence you would need but that is an extremely profitable way to make money as a nurse that I know. The law here is that you need to working under a licensed doctor’s supervision, but the physician does not have to work on the premises when the injections are performed.
Thank you for putting yourself at risk for us patients. Make sure to care for yourself too! Sometimes the only way to win humane conditions against big companies is to band together with your fellow workers like the man in the Japan Youth Union did to win his overtime pay. Are you involved with National Nurses United? They seem to really care and look out for their members. I think without collective worker bargaining power, changing industries will not help much because the power will still be disproportionately with the capital owners vs the workers. Best of luck!
desperate times calls for desperate measures...im sure you nurses aren't as overworked outside of covid periods..it's like how soldiers suffers the most casualties during war.
honestly in japan we are taught how give complement including expression and also how to react when someone gives us complement. it was a text book reaction.
What a documentary. Total masterpiece. I think the fine line between extraordinary hard work and productivity will always be a relevant topic and Japan is a real life laboratory.
Well done Yumi-san. I really appreciate the life I have after watching this documentary. For personal reasons, it was good to see the stress relief workshops being offered that encouraged people to cry. My father passed away from Mesothelioma about 30 years ago. The doctor told him to try and cry to release stress but he couldn't. This workshop would have helped him a lot.
there is a saying " Dont work hard, work smart", just because you are at work 12 hours a day doesn't mean you are efficient all the time, there are a lot of studies that show that our concentration falls off after 5 hours
@@TaroKawada You're right. I suppose, in the end, it's all circumstantial. How about the hiring process? Are they willing to hire people who "live" in Japan (on a student visa from a language school) rather than overseas?
Thank you so much! This is a high-quality and very well written documentary. As a student I feel it's important to consider the external world around us and the corperation cultures around the world as we edge into employment ourselves. I'll look forward to more fascinating documentaries in the future.
i think yagi-san's expression of joy from the interviewer's compliment at 9:23 really displays the the pride and happiness that some of these people really do feel in regards to their craft. while much of the workforce in japan is very toxic and needlessly arduous, i think the saying of, "if you do something you enjoy, you'll never work a day in your life." really remains especially true in these more specific and traditional cultural crafts like the soy sauce and melon farmers. hard work for some of these people really does bring them genuine contentment. however, many of these people slave away for the corporate ladder that only leaves them climbing and climbing forever and only yielding significant results and fulfillment for their own employers, not themselves. for these reasons especially, it really broke my heart to see the smaller and "less profitable" crafts beginning to wane within japan.
@@FaxmFaxm-j7e The problem lies in the definition and calculation of the work hours. It would be interesting to see if the date behind OECD rankings form a bell curve.
My dad's worked in japan for most of my life and one thing that stuck out to me even when I was little was how their desks were empty by the time they left the office. During the day it would be lots of papers, mail, memos etc and by the end sometimes its literally just a computer screen, a keyboard and a pen or two. He explained that, thats the standard you strive for. Today's tasks are meant to be completed today and tomorrow when you come you should have a new desk for your new tasks for the new day. Quality of work shouldn't be compromised when trying to achieve this and of course inevitably there are times tasks have to span over a few days but I always kept that in mind in every office job ive had so far. Discipline trumps motivation, and motivation is found and grown within the task and not prior to so just do it. Is it a toxic work environment sometimes? yes ofc. But I think the Japan work ethic standards still offer great gems and perspective to a lot of people (:
I was surprised seeing Kashiwa in this documentary. I remember filming his performance in Tokyo three years ago because I loved the sound of the instrument. Happy to see he's doing well :)
Wow good job on this documentary. Extremely entertaining and enlightening. Japan is one of my favourite places to visit and being a tourist there you absolutely do not see this side of Japan. Good to know there are initiatives being made to slowly change the work culture
More of these series please! Especially one done currently in pandemic times, I'm curious how work life has transformed for the Japanese officemen/women
It's not though...? Advertisers pay, and you also pay with your time by watching those advertisements. RUclips channels often make a lot of money. Why do people keep saying it's free lol
Hmmm.... Perhaps you didn't interview people when you were there, to ask how many hours they worked. Japanese just put on a smile to hide any other emotion. I can tell you, I lived in the boondocks of rural Japan, and my co-workers in elementary schools were putting in way too much overtime. Some would regularly be there from 6am to 11pm - especially when there was something special (but there's ALWAYS something special happening at school: events, afterschool activities, demo class days, report cards, curriculum changes, it's never ending). They have a yellow-card and red-card system for teachers who put in too many hours at the computer at school....but nothing really happens - like that "you worked too many hours cake" in the video. It's just a "you shouldn't work so hard, but we really appreciate it!" mentality. And saying "they looked happy and relaxed" is something I would've done for my first year or so, but when work barriers broke down and I got to become actual friends with them, I saw their lives as much more real/dynamic/stressed than the facade. Honesty and Ambivalnce towards full on functioning (sometimes 'high', sometimes barely) alcoholism, families that never spend time together, marriages on the rocks. They have many problems from over-work, they just smile and bare it. Ganbaru.
@@AlexAnder-rv1gu 70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
@Sobkou Every comment regarding the perception that the excessive hours worked by Japanese is commonplace. I'm assuming that, although you've read this comment elsewhere, Alex may have not.
Part of the problem of let's say Tokyo , is how expensive it is to live there , you have to work more to get more money to be able to survive there while people outside of Tokyo live in Reasonable proves on food and rent etc
This is one of the best documentaries I have seen about Japan in a while which tells it as it is far from all the gloomy shallow all happy videos you often find about life here. As a foreigner who went through the Shukatsu system and failed to find an ideal company, I can relate to all the people who suffered due to such choice. I hope Japan can change for the better it might sound childish but even none Japanese who love Japan and live here want to see Japanese people more happy and caring about their well being. I think it will open their eyes to others as well those from other countries since we rarely see any Japanese presence in the international stage. Human compassion and thinking about one another is the solution to many of Japan’s cultural issues.
@@Kronos0999 I don't want to turn you off from trying. You have to set your goals and priorities ahead way before you start. If you want to live in Japan for a long time then a stable job is a must at least in the beginning. For me I didn't care about black companies and their reputation cause I was focusing on getting a stable job first. But it turned out to be much more complicated. The language is a must and after that adopting "their way of doing things" is a must. So it is up to the individual...on a positive note, there are a couple of foreigners who reached a fair magnitude of success. Success in Japan is not necessarily making huge sums of money but rather maintaining a certain level of standard and relationships over a long period of time.
@@Ging_10 I do know Japanese and I'm just perfecting it now. But I am not the kind of guy who can work to the bone. Hell, even 8 hours seem way too much to me.
@Dante S The thing about me is, I can adapt scarily fast to situations. If I'm thrown in the pit, I don't think I'd actually suffer even if I end up working 18 hours...I just don't want to adapt to that. And cultures and nuances seem like an issues as well. Japanese people are not very direct, so you can't understand why they _think_ you should be doing or are doing wrong. I don't plan on getting married tbh. If I can live in a one room apartment by myself, I don't mind. I'm not much of a foodie (to me, food is just food; it can be whatever. I'll just finish it in like 5 min and I'm off) What about potential of being hired to other countries _after_ working a few years in Japan. If I can get a few years of experience in Japan, then can I get hired more easily to other places?
This is very informative! Yumi should do more documentaries in the future. I like the way you narrated and weaved together all the bits and pieces. My only suggestion is that it would have been better if you also showed the company's side of the story. Overall, it is a refreshing take to Japanese society!
As much as I love anime, the anime industry is one of the most toxic. There was another docu here on yt featuring an animator who worked on Boruto who was surviving on around 30,000 yen /month ( 280 usd ish) which is ridiculous!
”The Relentless and Uncompromising Pursuit of Perfection” has been one of my guiding principles since I first saw it embodied w/ Lexus vehicles, and I could go on about Kaizen. I might have been the only one at a seminar about Deming and TQL (for us military) whose eyes were wide open the entire time. However, I have since reframed my concept of perfection (raised the bar but cannot achieve that under my own strength)
M Anderson Glad to hear that you do not deem yourself capable of perfection in your own strength. Whose strength do you call upon to assist you? If you call upon any other than Jesus Christ, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree. If it is Jesus, one ought to be bold enough to say so. 'And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' (James 1:4) But what kind of perfection is Scripture talking about? Perhaps not mechanical perfection in industry or art. For material objects are perishable, no matter how well made.
Japan is a dream place to visit but not to live or work. The culture of not to cause trouble to others, hv to hold back your own thinking and be always considerate is not an easy task.
The melon farmer has the best job of everyone shown here. She gets to work in a tranquil environment at her own pace, doing something she enjoys without a boss on top of her or the ridiculousness of corporate office politics. She seems much happier and content. Of course, selling those melons for a couple hundred a pop doesn't hurt either.
As a side note, all countries are going thru it. The problem with Japan is that they confuse productivity with dedication. As a Project Manager, I can tell you that being in front of your computer 60 hours a week will not make a difference if the only thing you need is that single good idea. The only difference will be that you wasted 40 hours more than me...
@@1211jinx yes, the same in Japanese Company in MEPZA, Cebu where I used to work before. I can't see the sunlight anymore because I go to work 5am and went home 10pm. It's good that my contract end after 6 months.
Me living in Japan for 17 yrs feels like heaven 🙄 and i don’t work since March until now i enjoy my unemployment insurance thou and so far working in Japan in a different company is not totally difficult as everyone thinks lol it’s actually you don’t really need to work hard haha
@Zero Two I am here at Japan as a researcher for 18 months now... Honestly this country is just for visiting not for living , for example the doctors I have work with used to work 12-14 hours a day ....and the reason it is because they waste a lot of time, simply put they could be at home at 5 PM the latest, yet they do not do it because this way they look hard workers to society when actually they are not efficients. So maybe my country it is boring, but at least I can live a normal life and enjoy life with my family and my friends
@Zero Two "changing jobs" is not as easy as you think. especially when your talking about careers which you can earn more and be happier in other places rather than Japan.
*I do really admire Japan, hoping that someday to visit this beautiful country. While in my beloved Philippines, we work 6 days a week that's roughly 48 hours per week and 2,304 hours per year yet the paychecks are under minimum.* *I even cried watching them cry.*
FA Videos How well did the Japanese treat Filipinos during the wartime occupation? They were renowned for the grossness of their brutality. This is why I don't like to hear them praised. After ww2 the Japanese were forced by their American overlords to switch from warlike pursuits to commerce, but to quote the Biblical proverb, does a leopard change its spots? The Bible has harsh words for those who unjustly exploit the laborer. It's crazy that millions of Filipinos should feel compelled to leave their families and go abroad to earn remittances, as do many in my country.
34:40 That was some great voice work and jazzy flutter sound editing. Very great editing and professional quality throughout! You really conveyed the atmosphere and details so well, I now feel it emotionally and experientially as if I lived there going through the same thing. Best documentary.
My friend worked at a Japanese company in our country. One time, there was bad traffic and it took her 2 hrs to arrive for work. The Japanese manager deducted her salary 30cents per 1 min late. The next day, it was predicted that traffic will be bad again bcs of special holiday events, she still took her time and went to work like the usual hour bcs she didn't want to lose her sleep. The manager told to her, it was astonishing how the people of our country just didn't care even when their salary's deducted by minute. Here, we believe that the company will replace you the minute you step out of the office (die), so why bother enslaving to such thing that wont value you. Health is valuable , family is valuable, time is valuable too, so everyone will make sure they use all the holidays and even cut off their salary for paid holidays/ no salary off day to do whatever they like.
There is a key difference between working long hours and being productive. For instance, in my own country (Britain), we work longer hours than in Germany but are significantly less productive than the Germans. The Japanese have traditionally worked very long hours but there is a strong culture of presentism. Thus the boss expects you just to be there from say 5pm to 7.30pm even if you're not being terribly productive. The boss is in essence a 'lord' and being there is part of 'an oath of loyalty'. This is very likely a hang over from the fact that Japan moved from being an essentially medieval society to an industrial one in two generations. A more general point that I'd like to make is that the developed world (if one can call it that) is rather obsessed with productivity, but the very notion of productivity is in essence a hang over from industrialisation and the notion of working to the factory bell and the clock. Although those who run 'advanced' economies would, I think, deny it, I feel that they are still in a way stuck in the mentality of say, England in the 1850s. Actually, I do wonder if my own country isn't a trail blazer in what might be termed, 'post-industrial shirking' - that one day everyone (even South Korea) will be like us - merely going through the motions!
He's literally shut himself off with the defensive body posture, some people just have more difficulty taking down the wall they've built around themselves
Is hardpan a real instrument or is it like a trash can lid cymbal? Either way, it sounded cool. I suspect he lives with his folks as I hardly think donations would pay for that nice home.
I just looked up Pew research, and it seems that U.S. workers are worse, at 1811 hours/year. Does that make workers in Japan or the U.S. more productive? I doubt it. But I must say, Japan's general dedication to perfection is so honourable and to be admired. At that level, that's something I only rarely observe in the U.S.
U.S. workers have the highest working capital per employee, that means we have the most efficient computers, equipment, technology etc. that makes our hours more productive than the rest of the world. Japan's general dedication to perfection comes at the cost of any real output. Think back on the melon farmer. 1 in 1000 melons are considered acceptable (I doubt thats true, number is probably 1 in 50 maybe?) regardless, thats a lot of manhours and foodwaste on 999 other melons that will go nowhere. This is awful in terms of opportunity cost, those manhours could have gone elsewhere entirely, whether its other work or just simply time to rest.
That guy that did not cry is very logical. I was like that in the past. The problem with that personality is your emotion will become flat and in the long run will make you dissatisfied with life. I am in the path towards psychopathy or sociopathy and broke out of it.
I’m happy for you. I’m trying to break it too. I have a hard time enjoying my children out loud because I don’t laugh.they are always watching me to look for happiness. I fake smile and do well being fake. But inside I am completely monotone. It is very hard life.
2-3 months ago we had a co worker died from heart attack at work. I heard some rumors that he called the company early in the morning because he doesn’t feel really well but the company never allowed him to take his day off. He died from heart attack while working and we were sad because it’s too fast he wasn’t able to see his family for the last time.
Excellent documentary that zooms out on the big picture at societal level and zoom in on at the individual level to give a good understanding of the overall picture. Personal face-to-face service is still very much everything in Japan. I wonder how technology is changing productivity, personal service and the well-being of Japanese workers.
The way she describes and reacts to Yagi San's s work ethic and how it epitomises Japan's work ethic as a whole, is spot on. They do everything dutifully, attentively and with an 'obsession' to provide the best (because anything less would be a reflection of themselves). Its what sets them apart from other countries' workforces and something to be admired, you should see how they wrap presents and provide customer service in real life. Unfortunately, it extracts a price for say, corporate workers but in Yagi San's case, she seems to enjoy her family business.
Whenever I see media outlets mindlessly peddling the "Japan is aging/greying/dying" narrative, I wonder if they even bothered checking their own country's demographic trends. Because frankly most countries are aging/greying/dying; it's just that Japan is leading the pack by a decade or three.
They are pushing mass immigration on Japan. that's what western leftist and liberals want they want open borders and they want every country to be diverse ~ every color, gender, sexual orientation and race.
I'd love to see Western countries' population growth figures when you remove the padding from immigrants, who themselves start having less kids after a generation or three.
@@jackculler1489 you're silly. Japan already has people of ALL races. just not as much as other countries. All countries are open to immigrants because they need more workers. it's literally that simple. if the governments weren't so economically minded then that wouldnt be the case
I really have to say this! This got to be one of the most beautiful documentaries I've ever watched here in YT. You will laugh, you will cry and you will actually kinda sort of think and reevaluate your own life and how you are living it. Thank you for this wonderful, unbiased and well researched documentary. Please do more CNA! All love! ❤️💜
Come to visit Australia and in almost every store in the big cities you will see young Japanese looking for a new different life away from the pressures of Japan. In Colleges, Universities, Training Centers etc. classes are packed with Students mostly learning English and then anything that will give them a 'leg up' to get Australian Residency and later Citizenship.
The Japanese are not the 'hardest workers' in the world. They do put in long work days, though. But my friends who work in corporations in Tokyo basically say that corporate workers spend a lot of time 'appearing busy.' Also fun fact: Japan has the most vacations in the developed world. So many holidays. Long weekends. The vacations days are just not consecutive.
the thing is they dont even put in long hours, the premise was wrong, the average worldwide working hours is 1744, Japan would fall below average, it would only look like a lot compared to germany which is the absolute fewest worked hours.
This is a well-shot doc and the host is affable but, it seems to basically amount to Japan would be better if it were more like US/Canada/GB in it's approach. It kind of brushes over the ways that Japanese culture can be good and what benefits that culture has in the workplace. I wish they gave that perspective more attention.
I...I don't even expect anything other than this typical insecurity-driven Western critique of Japan when it comes to Western-made documentaries about Japan anymore...the reasons behind Japan's fall in productivity and birthrates are so complex, but I just expect these English-language docs to reduce everything to racist stereotypes like "the culture is so tox1c!!" nowadays. The shots in this film are beautiful though lololol.
@Magne M On the contrary, the whole adoration for the Japanese perfectionism thing has been beaten to death, but is still being produced in copious quantities. This is at least mildly refreshing. The host, as someone who came of age and formed in the US makes a point of making her biases understood. She is also in a nice place as regards the perspective for Western audiences, sensitive enough to the nuance of the culture but without that weaboo trying-too-hard-to-be-Japanese zeal, as she already is ethnic Japanese or a hafu. She can't help but admire Yagi-san's dedication and love, and abhor the dedication without love in salarymen. On the whole, a pretty balanced message: Perfection comes at a human cost and whether you see that cost as justified depends on the cultural outlook.
Emmanuel Japanese traditional culture is evil, based as it is on heathen practices like ancestor worship and worthless codes of honor. Western culture is also evil, but at least the influence of Biblical thought has put issues like slavery, women's rights, and compassion for the sick and the poor on the platters of politicians and civic leaders.. If you think that liberals and socialists did these things, remember that Judeo-Christianity came first
Lol! The reaction to the estranged father and daughter reuniting at her wedding had me laughing and cheesing hard as the man to the far left was holding back tears and practically everyone was crying 😂 If I was there, it sounds like I woulda cried through every one of those clips right along with Yumi lol. What a unique way to get therapy 🙂 Loving this series! I hope there’ll be more videos (They’re all so interesting.)
28:31 Crying is a symptom of being overwhelmed by emotion. Sadness is a common trigger, but just one trigger. Beauty and Happiness can also cause tears. So can many other emotions like regret, physical pain, anticipation, and many others. It is the intensity of emotion. I'm very interested in the biological aspect as well.
Watching this documentary has made me appreciate my own way of life even more. I loved working because l could set my own work goals & feel fulfilled when l reached them. I felt sad that people could work hard & be so unhappy
Japan might work "harder than ever", but working hard can't fix structural and social problems that plaque Japan and how their view of the world is twisted such that in the end, their economic strength isn't what it used to be. Japan is still very isolationist and xenophobic in it's ways and that hampers their success a lot. They also spend countless days and months extra (compared to other cultures) to learn their own writing system to be able to function in the world and they have TWO almost separate way of talking that they must master so be allowed in the workforce, the common speak and what you use at work. It all takes away from the more important things that person should be doing to get good at something they love to do so they can truly be an asset to their country, like studying their respective field or importantly: Hobbies and social life that energizes people and gives them the real drive to go forward. The best ideas and most productive conversations are rarely found in work, they're found outside of it. Then there's the issue of them not being truly international country. Their English teaching goes to waste since most, if not almost all media is dubbed, and their English teaching never gets reinforced since they never see or hear English outside of the class. And they have their own very separate internet bubble that's in Japanese. Meaning most of them can't communicate in English reliably so they can't exchange information and ideas across their borders... or they can't go outside of Japan without real issues of communication. That means their world is small and closed. All this feeds into the fact that Japans economy is collapsing, they work harder but produce less. Then they work even harder to fix it, but then karoshi starts to set in and people just tap out of the rat race... that leads to many societal and social issues and in the end, stagnation of economy. They must change if economy is important to them... in that change they might lose their souls of what it means being Japanese... but that's the choice they as a society must make. Economy, or their culture and soul... we will see what they'll do :/
Their economy may suffer and they certainly have their problems, but how many of the world's economic powerhouses (outside of China and India) can say they'll still have their national identities and populations intact in 50 years time or more? Not everything must be sacrificed at the altar of economy.
70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
@@gordonbgraham Overwork isn't in the statistics since nobody writes them up anywhere, that's the saddest part about this all. You're expected to do overwork, without compensation and it's never recorded anywhere :P If it was written down, if would be a shock tot he core of Japanese society when they realize what they're doing... and then government would step in and these companies expecting unpaid overwork wouldn't be able to do this.
The birthrate is low in all developed nations. Affluence results in people having fewer children. If you look at the highest birthrates in the world, they are all in the the poorest countries.
@@gordonbgraham true , in my country , more and more foreign people are born here while there is hardly any new born of native children, it is like they take so many children for a reason. ughum child support , ughum , in our country you get every 3 months 150 euro for 1 child , 150 euro's for one child is enough to feed 3 children and i am talking about just these 3 children , so lets say they have 5 children which most of em have here , (my neighbors got 4 children in 4 years and a half,,) 5 x 150 every 3 months, = 750 euro's every 3 months , while u use less then 300 for the children, even if the cost is higher then this , it is still lower then the income. if you get even more children , the cost goes down while the income is increasing even more, i don't like it, but it is smart in a way, if you can handle all these children that is. and because this support is not seen as income'' people with that many children often don't work and get even more support from the government ,money food clothes etc.
@@gordonbgraham that's not true , not every country has a birthrate so low that death rates are higher , in Europe the only country with that problem is Germany , every other country has higher birth rates than death rates ,so no not all developed countries have that problem
@@Buccallmann456 Japan's birthrate hit its lowest point in 2005 @ 1.25. It has levelled off @ between 1.43~1.47 over the past 15 years. Considering we are at the cusp of a generation in which 50% of jobs will be made obsolete within the next 25 years by AI and mass automation, that is a prudent number for a country that currently has a population of 127 million on an archipelago roughly the size of California...which has a population of 40 million.
"Can call it a day whenever he feels like it" now that's what I'm talking about! 😆 Kudos to that 17% brave self employed people. This documentary is so good. Made me think of many things including my career and how I want to live my life. The journalist is also great!
I remember doing Shukatsu, and got an offer for a sales company in Gunma. As a Black American with dreadlocks. I Was stoked AF. Then a month later the Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Daichi meltdown happened. I ended up having to leave Japan. Ended up working at a bank in Istanbul a month later.. Very strange period in my life.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Whilst watching this documentary one can't help but observe that in Japan even fruit are treated with more love and appreciation than many human beings.
The word you were looking for is "idolatry".
It's just a melon, so stupid.
the country is overpopulated so fruits are scare, so are more loved than humans
@@nr655321 you mean quality
@@nr655321 i was today years old when I knew that a ridiculous word like that exist
The melon lady has her own quiet pace of life, her own business and her own rhythm without having to endure office politics. She is one of the fortunate few.
A business and passion that was passed down from her father as well.
Compared to the tokyo grind machine she seems blessed.
Not that she's not a hard worker! But she seems to get a lot of genuine joy and takes pride in her work.
The strange thing about Japanese work ethic is that the corporate jobs are often filled with unproductive work... like literally spending hours in the office in routines that kill time...
yup formore important than output
@sbtopjosh that is ridiculous! 😆
@sbtopjosh is that for real? Hahahaha that's stupid.
@sbtopjosh 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes they waste a lot of employees’ time and tends to OVER complicate things that could have been simply executed. They hate to cause trouble for others but it is completely opposite for life in company
Always remember, your job is always replaceable. When you’re gone they won’t care. Always take care ourselves first physically espc mentally before anything else.
I didn't even notice this was a almost 50 min documentary, amazingly well produced and very relevant for any society at the moment, not matter where you live
I work in Japan, and I have noticed most of the time is spent procrastinating and attending meaningless meetings. So it's not entirely true that the Japanese are working hard to Karoshi.
I totally agree. Some even procrastinate just to earn overtime pay
those meaningless meetings are more like bonding up.
Also, postponing, or long meetings that doesn`t benefit the production only affect the people at the production, NOW the managers or higher tier position, that different, they need those meetings, they need postpone schedule for more meetings, or they don`t have anything else to do.
I feel like this is the norm in Asia? My cousin works in an American fortune 500 company based in China and apparently they don't have agenda for meetings. No one to keep the meeting moving and productive, so tons of time is wasted on useless talks. Also, employees cannot leave work until their manager or director has left even if they have finished their work for the day as it would be disrespectful.
I've lived in Japan for 30 years. Most people work standard 40 hour work weeks. This hardest working bit is piffle. Japan ranks 21st in the world for hours worked per annum. Mexico ranks 1st.
This is a high quality documentary. It's feels like a crime to watch this for free.
Yes I always love CNA documentaries
I KNOW RIGHT? IT WAS JUST SO MUCH MORE INTRESTING THAN USUAL!
what about everything she say is read out loud. could have a lifesize doll instead
Legit thought the same thing!
It wasn't free. They made money off of you, me and everyone else that watched the multiple ads during the program. So we all paid with something far more valuable than money... Our time.
I think Japan is the only country in the world where you sue a company for some ridiculous amount of money and still go back to work for them.
That’s why the woman made the statement about a abusive relationship. They cycle. Breaks my heart .
NOPE... It happens here in America too! Many people sue their companies, win, then go back to work for them. Only to be fired 6 months to a year later over some other bullshit. Because that person has no effort nor ambition or confidence to go look for a new job AND then the company can't fire a person once they've been sued otherwise it looks like the firing was done out of revenge and that would lead to another lawsuit for wrongful termination. So while the company buys their time, they make it difficult for the person going back to work for them, in the hopes they either screw up so they can justifiably fire the person OR so that person gets fed up and quits.
I know this one person who worked for a company and sued them for $3 MILLION dollars (AND WON) and still remained at the company. But she stayed ONLY because the company was about to go IPO and she wanted to exercise her shares and didn't want to lose them, if she quit. Plus the company couldn't backlash at her nor fire her once she sued them because then the company would of had a scandal on their hands, publicly, and that would have jeopardized the companies IPO. And the lawsuit was over racism too! She proved it by secretly recording the VP, when the VP bluntly admits he was discriminating against her due to her race. She is asian.
What the company failed to realize was that her husband was an lawyer! LOL
@@berniecruz8405 ce
And they take in like you wouldn't sue again😂
And the company still accept them back
My honest word when dealing with Japanese clients is that they spend alot of time dwelling on nonsensical issues and complicating works. Although their culture of mastery is respected all around the world, that very culture itself is killing their productivity and efficiency.
It’s a form of OCD
My experience with them is negative. I worked with them on various occasions on business applications. Whatever assignments given to them, they can't deliver. They don't even have good excuses. IMO, they're rude to laugh like it was funny not to deliver any assignments. If they do, they goof up to make me spend more time to correct their work. The same assignments given to Chinese, Singaporean, Indian, etc. clients, they can deliver with good quality. I kinda think that Japanese workers aren't smart.
Yakuza is watching them... Sad story of Japanese..
@金城㱐 They aren't rich, period.
My interpretation is that I agree. You are not efficient only because you spend 12h at work every day.
I love the anchor, she is so amazing and natural never trying to make situation anything else than it really is and doing it so respectfully.
If you do all your work in time and leave at 6, your boss will think that you don’t have enough work to do, so you get more work, so you end up staying late. You just can’t win.
Very true! It’s even like that in my house with chores, so I learned young to hide my talent. Lol. It sucks.
Good grief, stuff like this would make serving a Daimyo a more preferable job.
True. Been there.
I'm sorry you have been through that, that kind of boss doesn't deserve to have a company if he treats his workers like that. I hope more Japanese bosses would realize that.
Id probably make my boss behave proüerly and straight up ignore additional tasks
I've work in Japan many times. There is a concept called 生き甲斐 (Ikigai) or reason for living, devotion to purpose etc. Japanese people work a lot of hours. But that makes them zombies. Just because you work many hours does not mean your productive, in fact it's the opposite. Working 18/7 makes you a zombie, it does not make you "hard working" it means you show up.
I think that melon lady achieved her ikigai. Seems so happy doing what she love.
Very true. I work for a Japanese company. Sometimes, I even think they pretend to work. I think they are so lazy .
So true, and it happens with all kind of work. If you work long hours per day, I bet you will work properly the first three hours but not the rest.
It’s all for show
One can label everything with words or give a meaning for whatever reason there is, and this doesn't happen only in Japan. It is the whole concept of these brainwashing of the people all over the world so that the owners of companies who are into production of anything which is needed in this life can either be sold or exploited such as natural resources and almost anything thinkable to bring a profit. The only reason a person goes to school is to learn how to work for a system or to be a slave for a business. They never teach you about real life in school or how to enjoy your life as an individual rather be taught to become enslaved in the end. The japanese folk are exploited to the maximum because of their mentality as a people and these business companies only know this mentality too well.
The only thing I didn't like about this documentary is that it ended. I could easily watch another hour of this.
True!
Try replay 👍
this is a part 2 to a 4 part series.
Which video is episode one please?
My sentiments too. This was very interesting!
Its relatable here in the US as well: complete your high school education, pick a degree in college at the age of 17/18 and hope that you are still interested in pursuing that line of work once you finish college. There is enormous amount of pressure on the youth to pick their "life" long path early in life and in high school all they talk about is college. When some 50% of Americans hate their jobs we have clearly failed as a society. We also put so much emphasis on being a productive worker and contributing to the company but we forget that there is an individual with their own needs and wants. People in the US may not work as much as the Japanese but its not uncommon to be forced into over time work when a coworker calls out or when there is short staffing. This is often notorious in the retail and food industry when the turnover rate is astronomical (low pay, lack of appreciation, working hours) but yet somehow we still continue with business as usual. The US is also at a precipice where we have to decide what is more important being a productive "drone" in society just to amass more stuff or be happy and content as an individual in a work place that truly understands your value and worth. We can't continue to equate that productivity = happiness.
Good post. Always remember Obama urging patriotic Americans to go out shopping again to "stimulate" the economy. A society based on huge consumer debt, constant consumption isn't able to deal with climate change.
I worked 10 years in an office job in japan, and the reality is that the japanese spend a lot of time at work because of company pressure, but they do not work very hard at all, most of the time they are just screwing around.
And I bet the employees also wasting the company's resources too (consume electricity, water), unless they consume it for work related purpose.
Yeah I agree! These people are working smart! Bosses love this type of "smart" workers and they thrive! Unfortunately I knew way too late and I worked so hard to the detriment of my health! Worse is, the boss doesn't care 2hoots!😭
That is why Japan is not effective at all. They just work in a long period of time. I work 12-14hrs each day include Saturday in Tokyo. I go back at my last train. That was sucks.
Office workers maybe but not manufacturing such as autos. Here, they do outpace the world or at least for awhile until others caught up.
@@beruangloncat yup I know, its not even physically possible to work hours that long and every day and be effective, where I worked it was not that bad cause it was an american company, but I know the japanese companies were like that
All I know is, when I get back to work on Monday, I'll have my team screaming in unison, Supah Miracu HAPPY!
LMAO
HAHAHAHA!!!!😂😂😂😂😂
Lol seriously when am in Jamaica yu reach yu start work not sing song help company spirit
and they better mean it!
What yu mean by screaming in unison don't understand
I admire kashiwa’s courage to live the live his own way right now. I wish him and all these people happiness and only good things ahead🙏🏻
They basically lose their lives (sometimes literally) to their work, so many wish to escape to a different world where they can live awesome lives of adventures and surrounded by hot chicks
he is a winner, if you think he'll stay stuck and won't evolve you are wrong. This is transitional for him. But overworked people are going to hate him and call him a loser.
@sbtopjosh You'll understand the twist one day
@sbtopjosh good luck tough guy
I guess the most enjoyable job in japan is being a farmer or fisherman of sorts.
Live a stable and simple live.
I'm pretty sure that there are many other not so "Japanese style" jobs that aren't wasting time and don't have poor work life balance. RUclipsr is one for sure, probably many jobs in smaller towns, priests, shop owner, hotel worker and etc. Avoiding office jobs in most cases solve the sad way of sarari man.
@@MJ-uk6lu Sadly those professions rarely make enough for someone to feel happy in the modern era. It may be enough to support yourself and perhaps your business but rarely would you have enough money to spend on luxuries. That and your employment is hinged upon a population that is only all but guaranteed to decrease, likely to a point that you can no longer make a profit by the time you die.
as long as you don't work in corporation or office, then it's a stable and simple live.
That’s what I’d do. I’d go up in the mountains and live on a farm
@@jerrell1169 not really tuna fisherman make a lot of money
Melon lady is so proud of her job, it’s an inspiration!
She is delusional
@@donpeace894 she's happy, you on the other hand 😏
AGREED, I hope i can do that after I saved money
she seems so happy too!
@@donpeace894 She is on meth.
I've seen living in Japan for 12 years, 10 of which in a Japanese company.They don't work hard. They spend a lot of time at work. HUGE difference. So talking about work ethics is quite a joke. They show their dedication to their company by spending time at work, and it doesn't matter if they're doing anything. Pointless meetings are not a myth. I've seen many, including a nearly hour long one to decide the color of the stitching on a shirt. That said, they strive to perfection in their work not only for the satisfaction of the customer, but also to avoid the shame of a job badly done. "Falling in line" is the rule. You do what you're told. Kids are told from the youngest age to shut up, not stick out and follow . It's a wonderful country to live in , but it's also a country that will hit a wall and break eventually.People are are mostly miserable at work and the happiest people are usually those who work their own business or in very small structure.
And this documentary did not even cover the mandatory over-drinking.
Ah ha. Now the secret saki binges come out.
Im Muslim and its not allowed for us to drink, so I could never work in Japan.
@@sleverlight if u do ever decide. Really question yourself to how much are you willing to sacrifice yourself for your career.
@@commonaffection1703 There's no way that he or she can sacrifice his faith for his career.
@@TheKenzhang ideally yes. But what do u work as?
The content is very easy to follow. Watching it waking me up from sleepiness. Especially the host has a very clear accent.
I am one of those fortunate commuters in Tokyo who have watched master handpan musician, Kashiwa Hang, “work.” It was so relaxing to listen to and watch him play his handpans. I caught two of his performances in Akihabara. It was mesmerizing! I even uploaded that performance of his in my youtube channel too. I hope to see more of him.
This shows how many people are overworked and stressed in Japan. I hope the working environment is reorganized in a matter where both work and life are fairly balanced. I hope the best for all the hard working people in Japan.
_"Melons are just so intriguing, once you focus on them it's all you think about"_
The culture is strong with this woman.
You say, 'the culture is strong with this woman'. I say, 'there is something seriously wrong with this woman'.
All cultures are fatally flawed, because human nature is evil from birth.
(Jeremiah 17:9) 'The heart is deceitful beyond all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it?'
Only the God of Israel can understand it. Yes, even Jewish culture was fatally flawed, because the people would not listen to God very often.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 And you wonder why your religion is declining?
@@Luigi_Mario_1997
I said nothing unreasonable, and I wonder no such thing. You are wrong on TWO counts.
1. Christianity should NOT be defined as a 'religion.' RELIGION CANNOT SAVE ANYONE; Jesus saves. He did not represent Himself as a 'religious leader', and I do not consider myself a 'religious person'. The Bible says:
(James 1:26) 'If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.'
2. THE CHURCH IS ALWAYS GROWING. The Church is the Body of Christ, the sum total of all believers. Since Christ gives eternal life, no one ceases to be a member of the Church upon physical death.
Church attendance may be low in the Western world today, but it is increasing in many parts of the globe. Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa are huge 'success' stories, as regards contemporary evangelism.
Which country has the biggest churches in the world? South Korea.
Which sends out more missionaries than any other in proportion to its population? South Korea.
Get with the times, man.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 Because proselytizing bastards like you unreasonably accuse the entirety of human nature as sinful. This is 2022 AD, not 1203 AD-human society is now far more educated than we were in the Dark Ages. If you have never taken a public relations class, let me break it down do you in simple terms: Honey attracts more bees than vinegar.
It's always nice to see people of culture
Conclusion: Its good to travel in Japan but not live in it.
I've lived in Japan for 30 years. I disagree with your conclusion. It's a great place to live, work and raise a family.
@@gordonbgraham Yeah but I heard stories of you guys over working yourselves and clocking in long hours of work. Barely any time to socialize or relax. But those are just some perspectives i heard for living in the city. If you live in the province, then good for you
@@gordonbgraham depends on how the data is depicted. Teachers are considered 40 hours in japan but don’t clock in or out and typically work 70. What category does that fall under?
@@ryanoheron5354 I've been a high school teacher in Japan for 22 years. We don't work 70 hours a week. That falls under the category of "myth". High school in Japan is 6 days a week. Up until 2 years ago, prior to changes in the overtime law that limits the amount of overtime a company (or school) can require of an employee, I would concede that 60 hour work weeks were not uncommon among teachers. However, since the labour law changes have been implemented we teachers are now forced to take 2 days off a week despite there still being 6 school days a week for students. Prior to last year, we had to log in in a daily attendance book with the time written for arrival and departure accompanied by our hanko (personalised stamp). Since last year, once the new law had been implemented, we've had to log in daily on the computer into a data base that confirms our hours. The data is subject to audit by the ministry of labour. No school wants their reputation tarnished by not following the law. It's the Japanese way. My situation is by no means anecdotal. It reflects the current standard procedure throughout Japan.
@@gordonbgraham I’m working here now in middle schools, elementary and highschool. Seems like it matters where you are from your experience. Teachers don’t log their hours into computers they just stamp their bame with no time. Most arrive at 7:30, and do a club so are here until 6. I exaggerated but for my schools it’s definitely over 40 and on average more than 50. Some people in the board of education definitely do 60-70 and have been most weeks since I arrived and most of it is unproductive meetings.
I have experience working in Japan. People work punishing hours because the company is understaffed AND have too much inefficient bureaucratic b*shit. Plus, most managers are not qualified to be managers, hence subordinate suffers working under them. The gov kept saying workplace reform but new policies are still not able to curb such problems drastically (mostly superficial). Sleep deficiency is the biggest stressor, people should sleep more. EU made a good policy to introduce the 11-hour interval, which I think is very reasonable.
mate , in sweden you only work 6 hours a day, now that is heaven.
This video says Japan averages 1700 hrs per year. That's ~32.5hrs per week. That's 6.5 hrs per day (5 day week). Which isn't long work hours.
70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
It's a very polarized situation. Not everyone works long hours due to a few reasons, such as the wide use of temporary staff and most people tend not to apply OT. Excluding certain industries like finance (usually compensated well), most work decent hours (40-60h/week). On the other end of the spectrum, 80h/week is considered 'normal'. Some small companies even have 6 workdays. One good example is public school teachers in Japan.
www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/03/13/commentary/japan-commentary/japans-overworked-underpaid-teachers/
@@nixt.7920 I can't read the affixed article as I'd need a subscription. That said, I noticed that the article is dated 2018. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour has since enacted a law to reduce overtime for teachers and allow flex work schedules. I've worked at a high school for 20 years. Since the new legislation we must take a compulsory 2 days off a week and we must log in and log out on a database that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour has access to. We log in @ 8:30 am and out at 5pm. Anything beyond 5pm is overtime. The public coffers must pay for overtime which the principal must account for. In private school's the affiliated university's administration puts strict restrictions on overtime spending. I work in a private high school. We used to have 3 hour meetings once a week. We now have 1 hour meetings twice a month. Teachers who run sports clubs still put in a lot of overtime...but they are paid for it. I've affixed the legislative information that has been updated and adhered to by schools in Japan.www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section4/page5.html
Me: my cat died three years ago.
Japanese crying instructor: I see. Thank you very much.
He was grateful to hear that his cat was dead.
28:05 if anyone needs context
I notice that too. Acknowledged.
He thanked him for sharing deeply personal details. Cultural differences.
And thats on empathy 😂 i also felt like... 🤦🏽♀️
8:40, 9:20 she is so proud and happy like a kid to see that someone is enjoying the results of her hardwork
I started to cry the minute you started to describe what was happening in the films and I saw you tear up. I’m so empathetic that it doesn’t take much to make me cry.
I’m not in Japan, but as a nurse during these pandemic, being a nurse in the one of epicenters in the USA reflects how terrible the hospitals are becoming and disregarding our well being as a person. This documentary hits home. I’m reflecting weather I should really change my career paths...
Very well done! Thank you!!
Youre better offf where you are if youre a nurse since I work for an Oil Company and I tell you, its disorganized, most of your coworkers are dicks thinking they are the smartest motherfuckers in the planet. But yet when things need to get done they hide in their offices and dont want to be blamed if things go wrong, yet they would steal their subordinates hard work if things work out.
We also get hit hard with long hours of work because if you dont work overtime, you wont be able to keep up.
My aunt who was a veteran Nurse told me this. If you change your line of work or company. Its just a different face of evil, you are going to be dealing with.
But just make sure you like what you are doing.
Stay safe always.
Have you thought about beauty injection? My cousin who is a RN switch to beauty injection, rent a space at a doctor office for 2k, she just open early this year and made avarage 5-6k/ a day here in Texas. Im not sure what lisence you would need but that is an extremely profitable way to make money as a nurse that I know. The law here is that you need to working under a licensed doctor’s supervision, but the physician does not have to work on the premises when the injections are performed.
Thank you for putting yourself at risk for us patients. Make sure to care for yourself too!
Sometimes the only way to win humane conditions against big companies is to band together with your fellow workers like the man in the Japan Youth Union did to win his overtime pay. Are you involved with National Nurses United? They seem to really care and look out for their members.
I think without collective worker bargaining power, changing industries will not help much because the power will still be disproportionately with the capital owners vs the workers. Best of luck!
desperate times calls for desperate measures...im sure you nurses aren't as overworked outside of covid periods..it's like how soldiers suffers the most casualties during war.
I wasn't expecting this sort of in-depth content. Really good work. Thank you.
I'd buy a melon from that lady. She seemed really happy that she got a compliment on how sweet it was when the host tried it. pretty genuine to me
At 300 bucks?
You'd blow almost $300 to make a stranger smile? How kind of you.
@@MiladyToxic foolish
honestly in japan we are taught how give complement including expression and also how to react when someone gives us complement. it was a text book reaction.
sure you buy a melon from her, but will you do it regularly when grocery shopping? lol
What a documentary. Total masterpiece. I think the fine line between extraordinary hard work and productivity will always be a relevant topic and Japan is a real life laboratory.
I have no idea how I got here, but I want to thank for the quality it had, I am grateful for that. Cheers from Brazil
Well done Yumi-san. I really appreciate the life I have after watching this documentary. For personal reasons, it was good to see the stress relief workshops being offered that encouraged people to cry. My father passed away from Mesothelioma about 30 years ago. The doctor told him to try and cry to release stress but he couldn't. This workshop would have helped him a lot.
Japan looks amazing when you come as tourist. But as expatriate worker, it takes way more than just hard-work and discipline so we can enjoy it
How bad is it? I'm planning on going there for work, but I may pull out if it is too bad.
@@Kronos0999 hey, it all depends on the company you join. Do some research, talk to future colleagues, ask questions during your interviews.
there is a saying " Dont work hard, work smart", just because you are at work 12 hours a day doesn't mean you are efficient all the time, there are a lot of studies that show that our concentration falls off after 5 hours
@@TaroKawada You're right. I suppose, in the end, it's all circumstantial. How about the hiring process? Are they willing to hire people who "live" in Japan (on a student visa from a language school) rather than overseas?
@@dariomladenovski7047 Easier said than done, fruitcake.
Thank you so much! This is a high-quality and very well written documentary. As a student I feel it's important to consider the external world around us and the corperation cultures around the world as we edge into employment ourselves. I'll look forward to more fascinating documentaries in the future.
I love her hand flaps when she gets approval from the journalist. Sooo cuuuuuute!
Japan looks so chill on the surface but everything seems to be pretty intense.
i think yagi-san's expression of joy from the interviewer's compliment at 9:23 really displays the the pride and happiness that some of these people really do feel in regards to their craft. while much of the workforce in japan is very toxic and needlessly arduous, i think the saying of, "if you do something you enjoy, you'll never work a day in your life." really remains especially true in these more specific and traditional cultural crafts like the soy sauce and melon farmers. hard work for some of these people really does bring them genuine contentment. however, many of these people slave away for the corporate ladder that only leaves them climbing and climbing forever and only yielding significant results and fulfillment for their own employers, not themselves. for these reasons especially, it really broke my heart to see the smaller and "less profitable" crafts beginning to wane within japan.
Kashiwa’s sound is very soothing like it put me in a new dimension
No wonder isekai is so popular there, working like hell sucks, escaping to another world is way better
To be born is literal hell that even religious make ideas of after 7 rebirth, soul will not reincarnate anymore.
Drinking to escape to the other world faster via liver failure.
Ha ha
japanese not hardest working OECD 23th data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm
@@FaxmFaxm-j7e The problem lies in the definition and calculation of the work hours. It would be interesting to see if the date behind OECD rankings form a bell curve.
My dad's worked in japan for most of my life and one thing that stuck out to me even when I was little was how their desks were empty by the time they left the office. During the day it would be lots of papers, mail, memos etc and by the end sometimes its literally just a computer screen, a keyboard and a pen or two. He explained that, thats the standard you strive for. Today's tasks are meant to be completed today and tomorrow when you come you should have a new desk for your new tasks for the new day. Quality of work shouldn't be compromised when trying to achieve this and of course inevitably there are times tasks have to span over a few days but I always kept that in mind in every office job ive had so far.
Discipline trumps motivation, and motivation is found and grown within the task and not prior to so just do it.
Is it a toxic work environment sometimes? yes ofc. But I think the Japan work ethic standards still offer great gems and perspective to a lot of people (:
They work the most grueling hours and are some of the least productive. Theres certainly something to learn there. What not to strive for.
Honestly, I have to say Kashiwa-san's music playing sounds magical and enchanting.
I was surprised seeing Kashiwa in this documentary. I remember filming his performance in Tokyo three years ago because I loved the sound of the instrument. Happy to see he's doing well :)
I like this host way of documenting.
Wow good job on this documentary. Extremely entertaining and enlightening. Japan is one of my favourite places to visit and being a tourist there you absolutely do not see this side of Japan. Good to know there are initiatives being made to slowly change the work culture
More of these series please! Especially one done currently in pandemic times, I'm curious how work life has transformed for the Japanese officemen/women
Awesome documentary Yumi and the crew! Thank you for providing this for free.
It's not though...? Advertisers pay, and you also pay with your time by watching those advertisements. RUclips channels often make a lot of money. Why do people keep saying it's free lol
I feel that this is more about Tokyo / Osaka / Nagoya. I’ve travelled to smaller towns and people there generally looked happy and relaxed.
Same here. May be it's like NY different from a small town in Us.
Hmmm.... Perhaps you didn't interview people when you were there, to ask how many hours they worked. Japanese just put on a smile to hide any other emotion. I can tell you, I lived in the boondocks of rural Japan, and my co-workers in elementary schools were putting in way too much overtime. Some would regularly be there from 6am to 11pm - especially when there was something special (but there's ALWAYS something special happening at school: events, afterschool activities, demo class days, report cards, curriculum changes, it's never ending). They have a yellow-card and red-card system for teachers who put in too many hours at the computer at school....but nothing really happens - like that "you worked too many hours cake" in the video. It's just a "you shouldn't work so hard, but we really appreciate it!" mentality. And saying "they looked happy and relaxed" is something I would've done for my first year or so, but when work barriers broke down and I got to become actual friends with them, I saw their lives as much more real/dynamic/stressed than the facade. Honesty and Ambivalnce towards full on functioning (sometimes 'high', sometimes barely) alcoholism, families that never spend time together, marriages on the rocks. They have many problems from over-work, they just smile and bare it. Ganbaru.
@@AlexAnder-rv1gu 70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
@Sobkou Every comment regarding the perception that the excessive hours worked by Japanese is commonplace. I'm assuming that, although you've read this comment elsewhere, Alex may have not.
Part of the problem of let's say Tokyo , is how expensive it is to live there , you have to work more to get more money to be able to survive there while people outside of Tokyo live in Reasonable proves on food and rent etc
This is one of the best documentaries I have seen about Japan in a while which tells it as it is far from all the gloomy shallow all happy videos you often find about life here. As a foreigner who went through the Shukatsu system and failed to find an ideal company, I can relate to all the people who suffered due to such choice. I hope Japan can change for the better it might sound childish but even none Japanese who love Japan and live here want to see Japanese people more happy and caring about their well being. I think it will open their eyes to others as well those from other countries since we rarely see any Japanese presence in the international stage. Human compassion and thinking about one another is the solution to many of Japan’s cultural issues.
How bad is it? I'm planning on going there for work, but I may pull out if it is too bad.
@@Kronos0999 I don't want to turn you off from trying. You have to set your goals and priorities ahead way before you start. If you want to live in Japan for a long time then a stable job is a must at least in the beginning. For me I didn't care about black companies and their reputation cause I was focusing on getting a stable job first. But it turned out to be much more complicated. The language is a must and after that adopting "their way of doing things" is a must. So it is up to the individual...on a positive note, there are a couple of foreigners who reached a fair magnitude of success. Success in Japan is not necessarily making huge sums of money but rather maintaining a certain level of standard and relationships over a long period of time.
@@Ging_10 I do know Japanese and I'm just perfecting it now.
But I am not the kind of guy who can work to the bone. Hell, even 8 hours seem way too much to me.
@Dante S The thing about me is, I can adapt scarily fast to situations. If I'm thrown in the pit, I don't think I'd actually suffer even if I end up working 18 hours...I just don't want to adapt to that.
And cultures and nuances seem like an issues as well. Japanese people are not very direct, so you can't understand why they _think_ you should be doing or are doing wrong.
I don't plan on getting married tbh. If I can live in a one room apartment by myself, I don't mind.
I'm not much of a foodie (to me, food is just food; it can be whatever. I'll just finish it in like 5 min and I'm off)
What about potential of being hired to other countries _after_ working a few years in Japan. If I can get a few years of experience in Japan, then can I get hired more easily to other places?
@Dante S good insight. Seems awful lol
This is very informative! Yumi should do more documentaries in the future. I like the way you narrated and weaved together all the bits and pieces. My only suggestion is that it would have been better if you also showed the company's side of the story. Overall, it is a refreshing take to Japanese society!
Thank you for your kind words. we will take note of your comments.
Honestly one of the most interesting documentary I have seen in a while... thank you.
The world of animes is so wonderful because the real world is so overwhelming.
not overwhelming but really boring and useless 🙄🙄 in japan
As much as I love anime, the anime industry is one of the most toxic. There was another docu here on yt featuring an animator who worked on Boruto who was surviving on around 30,000 yen /month ( 280 usd ish) which is ridiculous!
Most modern anime are focus on schools and teenagers because being adault worker sucks
This is why most anime take place during high school, because that's their last time of freedom.
meanwhile me in WH40K: ahh yes those world is more nice place compere this one
Perfectly put together. I love how the story progresses.
”The Relentless and Uncompromising Pursuit of Perfection” has been one of my guiding principles since I first saw it embodied w/ Lexus vehicles, and I could go on about Kaizen. I might have been the only one at a seminar about Deming and TQL (for us military) whose eyes were wide open the entire time. However, I have since reframed my concept of perfection (raised the bar but cannot achieve that under my own strength)
M Anderson
Glad to hear that you do not deem yourself capable of perfection in your own strength. Whose strength do you call upon to assist you? If you call upon any other than Jesus Christ, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree.
If it is Jesus, one ought to be bold enough to say so.
'And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' (James 1:4)
But what kind of perfection is Scripture talking about? Perhaps not mechanical perfection in industry or art. For material objects are perishable, no matter how well made.
Japan is a dream place to visit but not to live or work. The culture of not to cause trouble to others, hv to hold back your own thinking and be always considerate is not an easy task.
The melon farmer has the best job of everyone shown here. She gets to work in a tranquil environment at her own pace, doing something she enjoys without a boss on top of her or the ridiculousness of corporate office politics. She seems much happier and content. Of course, selling those melons for a couple hundred a pop doesn't hurt either.
As a side note, all countries are going thru it. The problem with Japan is that they confuse productivity with dedication. As a Project Manager, I can tell you that being in front of your computer 60 hours a week will not make a difference if the only thing you need is that single good idea. The only difference will be that you wasted 40 hours more than me...
I'd like to visit in Japan as a Tourist but never in my mind to work and live in Japan because I can feel the stress.
it is hell... the paperwork alone would drive you mad...
Especially if you work in the industry field.Sometimes if its too busy we dont have day offs anymore unfortunately 😒😷
@@1211jinx yes, the same in Japanese Company in MEPZA, Cebu where I used to work before. I can't see the sunlight anymore because I go to work 5am and went home 10pm. It's good that my contract end after 6 months.
Me living in Japan for 17 yrs feels like heaven 🙄 and i don’t work since March until now i enjoy my unemployment insurance thou and so far working in Japan in a different company is not totally difficult as everyone thinks lol it’s actually you don’t really need to work hard haha
@@madeinjapan3333 funny to hear lol, how is it? efficient or weird working methods that are slow?
I want to visit Japan but not live there.
Zero Two atleast im not gonna work myself to death unlike YOU!!!
I would live there if I can speak Japanese and not have to work in a Japanese company.
@Zero Two I am here at Japan as a researcher for 18 months now... Honestly this country is just for visiting not for living , for example the doctors I have work with used to work 12-14 hours a day ....and the reason it is because they waste a lot of time, simply put they could be at home at 5 PM the latest, yet they do not do it because this way they look hard workers to society when actually they are not efficients. So maybe my country it is boring, but at least I can live a normal life and enjoy life with my family and my friends
@Zero Two "changing jobs" is not as easy as you think. especially when your talking about careers which you can earn more and be happier in other places rather than Japan.
@Zero Two weaboos overproud Intensifies... They're polite but not friendly.... They're individual as well, it's heaven for introvert only
*I do really admire Japan, hoping that someday to visit this beautiful country. While in my beloved Philippines, we work 6 days a week that's roughly 48 hours per week and 2,304 hours per year yet the paychecks are under minimum.*
*I even cried watching them cry.*
6 days a week.. stop exaggerating, that's not a standard.
@@jade5202 *If you are a Filipino, you won't disagree because it's the real thing for most blue collar jobs and few for white collar jobs*
@@jade5202 it is true, when you are working in a blue collar job. However, there are office jobs require you to work 6 days a week.
@@favideos3699 totally agree, as a filipino, you have to send money to parents as well as part of our "utang na loob" almost to none savings.
FA Videos
How well did the Japanese treat Filipinos during the wartime occupation? They were renowned for the grossness of their brutality. This is why I don't like to hear them praised. After ww2 the Japanese were forced by their American overlords to switch from warlike pursuits to commerce, but to quote the Biblical proverb, does a leopard change its spots?
The Bible has harsh words for those who unjustly exploit the laborer. It's crazy that millions of Filipinos should feel compelled to leave their families and go abroad to earn remittances, as do many in my country.
You're an awesome reporter! I enjoy all your reporting. Thanks
34:40
That was some great voice work and jazzy flutter sound editing. Very great editing and professional quality throughout! You really conveyed the atmosphere and details so well, I now feel it emotionally and experientially as if I lived there going through the same thing. Best documentary.
The quality of this documentary is really amazing.
Yes, it is very informative.
Great work, Youme! I'm so happy to see how you've grown as a journalist.
this Country needs people like me.
who laugh more
eat more
sleep more
and less work.
then go move there and be our shining beacon of hope
And broke
@@marksankar6434 Japan's been broke since '91, what's the difference :v
My friend worked at a Japanese company in our country. One time, there was bad traffic and it took her 2 hrs to arrive for work. The Japanese manager deducted her salary 30cents per 1 min late. The next day, it was predicted that traffic will be bad again bcs of special holiday events, she still took her time and went to work like the usual hour bcs she didn't want to lose her sleep. The manager told to her, it was astonishing how the people of our country just didn't care even when their salary's deducted by minute.
Here, we believe that the company will replace you the minute you step out of the office (die), so why bother enslaving to such thing that wont value you. Health is valuable , family is valuable, time is valuable too, so everyone will make sure they use all the holidays and even cut off their salary for paid holidays/ no salary off day to do whatever they like.
There is a key difference between working long hours and being productive. For instance, in my own country (Britain), we work longer hours than in Germany but are significantly less productive than the Germans. The Japanese have traditionally worked very long hours but there is a strong culture of presentism. Thus the boss expects you just to be there from say 5pm to 7.30pm even if you're not being terribly productive. The boss is in essence a 'lord' and being there is part of 'an oath of loyalty'. This is very likely a hang over from the fact that Japan moved from being an essentially medieval society to an industrial one in two generations. A more general point that I'd like to make is that the developed world (if one can call it that) is rather obsessed with productivity, but the very notion of productivity is in essence a hang over from industrialisation and the notion of working to the factory bell and the clock. Although those who run 'advanced' economies would, I think, deny it, I feel that they are still in a way stuck in the mentality of say, England in the 1850s. Actually, I do wonder if my own country isn't a trail blazer in what might be termed, 'post-industrial shirking' - that one day everyone (even South Korea) will be like us - merely going through the motions!
Tremendous! Amazing! This documentary is spectacular!
I knew from the start that that one guy would not cry during the therapy. His body language was loud and clear... The handpan musician is amazing.
He's literally shut himself off with the defensive body posture, some people just have more difficulty taking down the wall they've built around themselves
You know how he was able to pull that off? He is dead inside
Is hardpan a real instrument or is it like a trash can lid cymbal? Either way, it sounded cool. I suspect he lives with his folks as I hardly think donations would pay for that nice home.
outstanding, first-grade production! stupendously insightful! thanks for this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I think you meant "first-rate." And you're absolutely correct.
@@ellvtv2314 thanks for improving my vocabulary. "first-rate" is spot-on.
Satoshi when getting his career counselling is straight up most of us. I Love Satoshi, I hope he is doing okay.
I just looked up Pew research, and it seems that U.S. workers are worse, at 1811 hours/year.
Does that make workers in Japan or the U.S. more productive? I doubt it.
But I must say, Japan's general dedication to perfection is so honourable and to be admired. At that level, that's something I only rarely observe in the U.S.
U.S. workers have the highest working capital per employee, that means we have the most efficient computers, equipment, technology etc. that makes our hours more productive than the rest of the world. Japan's general dedication to perfection comes at the cost of any real output. Think back on the melon farmer. 1 in 1000 melons are considered acceptable (I doubt thats true, number is probably 1 in 50 maybe?) regardless, thats a lot of manhours and foodwaste on 999 other melons that will go nowhere. This is awful in terms of opportunity cost, those manhours could have gone elsewhere entirely, whether its other work or just simply time to rest.
Why do you call it "Black companies"? In Russia we call companies with overwork, low salary, no insurance, abuse - just "companies".
they feel a need to have name for everything and every possible situation.
so you called the good companies a "comrade"?
hmm Putin calls WAR a ~ simply ~ ''special military operation''🤡
That guy that did not cry is very logical. I was like that in the past. The problem with that personality is your emotion will become flat and in the long run will make you dissatisfied with life. I am in the path towards psychopathy or sociopathy and broke out of it.
I’m happy for you. I’m trying to break it too. I have a hard time enjoying my children out loud because I don’t laugh.they are always watching me to look for happiness. I fake smile and do well being fake. But inside I am completely monotone. It is very hard life.
2-3 months ago we had a co worker died from heart attack at work. I heard some rumors that he called the company early in the morning because he doesn’t feel really well but the company never allowed him to take his day off. He died from heart attack while working and we were sad because it’s too fast he wasn’t able to see his family for the last time.
I noticed she validated his views.. the helper. Made me feel good.
Excellent documentary that zooms out on the big picture at societal level and zoom in on at the individual level to give a good understanding of the overall picture. Personal face-to-face service is still very much everything in Japan. I wonder how technology is changing productivity, personal service and the well-being of Japanese workers.
The way she describes and reacts to Yagi San's s work ethic and how it epitomises Japan's work ethic as a whole, is spot on. They do everything dutifully, attentively and with an 'obsession' to provide the best (because anything less would be a reflection of themselves). Its what sets them apart from other countries' workforces and something to be admired, you should see how they wrap presents and provide customer service in real life. Unfortunately, it extracts a price for say, corporate workers but in Yagi San's case, she seems to enjoy her family business.
Whenever I see media outlets mindlessly peddling the "Japan is aging/greying/dying" narrative, I wonder if they even bothered checking their own country's demographic trends. Because frankly most countries are aging/greying/dying; it's just that Japan is leading the pack by a decade or three.
Y O that decade or three matters through, especially in a country with a debt to GDP ratio of 260%
They are pushing mass immigration on Japan. that's what western leftist and liberals want they want open borders and they want every country to be diverse ~ every color, gender, sexual orientation and race.
@@jackculler1489 you're so simple
I'd love to see Western countries' population growth figures when you remove the padding from immigrants, who themselves start having less kids after a generation or three.
@@jackculler1489 you're silly. Japan already has people of ALL races. just not as much as other countries.
All countries are open to immigrants because they need more workers. it's literally that simple. if the governments weren't so economically minded then that wouldnt be the case
I really have to say this! This got to be one of the most beautiful documentaries I've ever watched here in YT. You will laugh, you will cry and you will actually kinda sort of think and reevaluate your own life and how you are living it. Thank you for this wonderful, unbiased and well researched documentary. Please do more CNA! All love! ❤️💜
Come to visit Australia and in almost every store in the big cities you will see young Japanese looking for a new different life away from the pressures of Japan.
In Colleges, Universities, Training Centers etc. classes are packed with Students mostly learning English and then anything that will give them a 'leg up' to get Australian Residency and later Citizenship.
The Japanese are not the 'hardest workers' in the world. They do put in long work days, though. But my friends who work in corporations in Tokyo basically say that corporate workers spend a lot of time 'appearing busy.' Also fun fact: Japan has the most vacations in the developed world. So many holidays. Long weekends. The vacations days are just not consecutive.
the thing is they dont even put in long hours, the premise was wrong, the average worldwide working hours is 1744, Japan would fall below average, it would only look like a lot compared to germany which is the absolute fewest worked hours.
Melon Lady was such a sweetheart!
I don't like melons at all
This is a well-shot doc and the host is affable but, it seems to basically amount to Japan would be better if it were more like US/Canada/GB in it's approach. It kind of brushes over the ways that Japanese culture can be good and what benefits that culture has in the workplace. I wish they gave that perspective more attention.
I...I don't even expect anything other than this typical insecurity-driven Western critique of Japan when it comes to Western-made documentaries about Japan anymore...the reasons behind Japan's fall in productivity and birthrates are so complex, but I just expect these English-language docs to reduce everything to racist stereotypes like "the culture is so tox1c!!" nowadays. The shots in this film are beautiful though lololol.
@Magne M On the contrary, the whole adoration for the Japanese perfectionism thing has been beaten to death, but is still being produced in copious quantities. This is at least mildly refreshing. The host, as someone who came of age and formed in the US makes a point of making her biases understood. She is also in a nice place as regards the perspective for Western audiences, sensitive enough to the nuance of the culture but without that weaboo trying-too-hard-to-be-Japanese zeal, as she already is ethnic Japanese or a hafu. She can't help but admire Yagi-san's dedication and love, and abhor the dedication without love in salarymen. On the whole, a pretty balanced message: Perfection comes at a human cost and whether you see that cost as justified depends on the cultural outlook.
Emmanuel
Japanese traditional culture is evil, based as it is on heathen practices like ancestor worship and worthless codes of honor.
Western culture is also evil, but at least the influence of Biblical thought has put issues like slavery, women's rights, and compassion for the sick and the poor on the platters of politicians and civic leaders.. If you think that liberals and socialists did these things, remember that Judeo-Christianity came first
Lol! The reaction to the estranged father and daughter reuniting at her wedding had me laughing and cheesing hard as the man to the far left was holding back tears and practically everyone was crying 😂 If I was there, it sounds like I woulda cried through every one of those clips right along with Yumi lol. What a unique way to get therapy 🙂 Loving this series! I hope there’ll be more videos (They’re all so interesting.)
28:31 Crying is a symptom of being overwhelmed by emotion. Sadness is a common trigger, but just one trigger. Beauty and Happiness can also cause tears. So can many other emotions like regret, physical pain, anticipation, and many others. It is the intensity of emotion. I'm very interested in the biological aspect as well.
Watching this documentary has made me appreciate my own way of life even more. I loved working because l could set my own work goals & feel fulfilled when l reached them. I felt sad that people could work hard & be so unhappy
brilliant docu piece...hoping for a lot more to come :)
Many thanks!
Japan might work "harder than ever", but working hard can't fix structural and social problems that plaque Japan and how their view of the world is twisted such that in the end, their economic strength isn't what it used to be.
Japan is still very isolationist and xenophobic in it's ways and that hampers their success a lot. They also spend countless days and months extra (compared to other cultures) to learn their own writing system to be able to function in the world and they have TWO almost separate way of talking that they must master so be allowed in the workforce, the common speak and what you use at work.
It all takes away from the more important things that person should be doing to get good at something they love to do so they can truly be an asset to their country, like studying their respective field or importantly: Hobbies and social life that energizes people and gives them the real drive to go forward. The best ideas and most productive conversations are rarely found in work, they're found outside of it.
Then there's the issue of them not being truly international country. Their English teaching goes to waste since most, if not almost all media is dubbed, and their English teaching never gets reinforced since they never see or hear English outside of the class. And they have their own very separate internet bubble that's in Japanese. Meaning most of them can't communicate in English reliably so they can't exchange information and ideas across their borders... or they can't go outside of Japan without real issues of communication. That means their world is small and closed.
All this feeds into the fact that Japans economy is collapsing, they work harder but produce less. Then they work even harder to fix it, but then karoshi starts to set in and people just tap out of the rat race... that leads to many societal and social issues and in the end, stagnation of economy.
They must change if economy is important to them... in that change they might lose their souls of what it means being Japanese... but that's the choice they as a society must make. Economy, or their culture and soul... we will see what they'll do :/
Different culture different way of cooking rice, but some culture are wrong -Uncle Roger, 2020.
Their economy may suffer and they certainly have their problems, but how many of the world's economic powerhouses (outside of China and India) can say they'll still have their national identities and populations intact in 50 years time or more?
Not everything must be sacrificed at the altar of economy.
I think isolation is result of immigration policy just look at top cities or countries and you will find they are much diverse like Singapore
70% of Japanese work 35~40 hours a week. Here is the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour on the issue of "Karoshi"...(death by overwork). While there are sectors such as marketing, finance and management as well as agricultural industries such as farming and fishing in which overtime is common, most Japanese work 35~40 hours per week. The chart and corresponding synopsis for each is in Japanese, but you can use Google translate to copy and paste to confirm the data and findings. www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/karoushi/16/dl/16-1-1.pdf
@@gordonbgraham Overwork isn't in the statistics since nobody writes them up anywhere, that's the saddest part about this all.
You're expected to do overwork, without compensation and it's never recorded anywhere :P
If it was written down, if would be a shock tot he core of Japanese society when they realize what they're doing... and then government would step in and these companies expecting unpaid overwork wouldn't be able to do this.
Great content.. all the best..
Thank you for sharing this information lady
This is top drawer journalism! Bravo
that is why the birth rate is low. work 1st, life 2nd
actually, work 1st, survive 2nd, life 3rd
The birthrate is low in all developed nations. Affluence results in people having fewer children. If you look at the highest birthrates in the world, they are all in the the poorest countries.
@@gordonbgraham true , in my country , more and more foreign people are born here while there is hardly any new born of native children, it is like they take so many children for a reason. ughum child support , ughum , in our country you get every 3 months 150 euro for 1 child , 150 euro's for one child is enough to feed 3 children and i am talking about just these 3 children , so lets say they have 5 children which most of em have here , (my neighbors got 4 children in 4 years and a half,,) 5 x 150 every 3 months, = 750 euro's every 3 months , while u use less then 300 for the children, even if the cost is higher then this , it is still lower then the income. if you get even more children , the cost goes down while the income is increasing even more, i don't like it, but it is smart in a way, if you can handle all these children that is.
and because this support is not seen as income'' people with that many children often don't work and get even more support from the government ,money food clothes etc.
@@gordonbgraham that's not true , not every country has a birthrate so low that death rates are higher , in Europe the only country with that problem is Germany , every other country has higher birth rates than death rates ,so no not all developed countries have that problem
@@Buccallmann456 Japan's birthrate hit its lowest point in 2005 @ 1.25. It has levelled off @ between 1.43~1.47 over the past 15 years. Considering we are at the cusp of a generation in which 50% of jobs will be made obsolete within the next 25 years by AI and mass automation, that is a prudent number for a country that currently has a population of 127 million on an archipelago roughly the size of California...which has a population of 40 million.
It's good to express yourself. Especially customer service. Always feel that Japanese are too repressed.
I take Japanese customer service over Singapore’s poor or rather non existence customer service.
Because Sinitic cultures always suppress human nature. At least European philosophy keeps human nature from cannibalizing itself.
"Can call it a day whenever he feels like it" now that's what I'm talking about! 😆 Kudos to that 17% brave self employed people. This documentary is so good. Made me think of many things including my career and how I want to live my life. The journalist is also great!
Very interesting and informative video. Thank you.
I remember doing Shukatsu, and got an offer for a sales company in Gunma. As a Black American with dreadlocks. I Was stoked AF. Then a month later the Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Daichi meltdown happened. I ended up having to leave Japan. Ended up working at a bank in Istanbul a month later.. Very strange period in my life.